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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guilt Puppy" data-source="post: 896046" data-attributes="member: 6521">So my roommate's been "researching" the X-Men lately, and it's gotten me really into the whole idea of Superhero comics... And I think to myself, "God, a campaign like that would rock!"I've put some thought into how to make a system work with that, and here's what I've come up with:d20 modern, naturally, for the core rules. Why not d20 supers? Don't have the system, and I want to be more rules-light about the superpowers... d20 modern is more for the "normal humans" than the main characters, who will be fueled by Jeph's-Matrix-game-esque embellishments -- see below.Players will be asked to submit a ten-level progression of their superpowers, which can be whatever-the-hell they come up with. It should be relatively well-balanced with the existing d20 mod classes. Characters can multi-class from their own superpower class to other d20 mod classes.A good way to achieve balance is to start with one of the Hero archetypes, dump the bonus feat/talents, and replace these with superpowers... Keep in mind the action points system as a way to power this, albeit an expensive one.But on to the most vital element of the system: Embellishments! I've been really digging on Jeph's Matrix game, and while I appreciate the solidity of a system like d20 more, it's something I really want to appropriate.Basic embellishment system would work as such: Whenever you make an action that would require a d20 roll, you can (and should <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) instead choose to embellish it -- that is, describe your actions for the round in detailed style, noting nuances, et cetera. Your embellishment will be rated from 0 to 10, and this will be added to a d10 roll. Basically, you describe your action of the course of the round, and each "cool thing" increases your embellishment score for that round.There also comes in the issue of overkill: If you embellish too much, try to go beyond your character's abilities, (basically, if you go past ten), it starts counting back down until it reaches zero, and then starts counting back up. (Note that your embellishments for a full round are applied to all dice rolls made within that round, and likewise the count takes the full-round into account, not each action... This is to encourage fluidity within your action, rather than little cinematic blips)Alternatively, you can spend one action point to do a full embellishment: This replaces the dice roll(s) entirely, and your score will be counted up to 20 (then back down for overkill), and it will be treated exactly as if you had rolled that number (including criticals.) Yes, so if you manage to embellish a 20 on a full attack, that's all critical hits.Oh, and for the record: Embellishment scores are not subject to argument, just cause if they were, it would be power-game paradise. The point is to describe something really cool, not just to throw in enough commas to beat the enemy's AC. I will likely grade some really cool actions as +2 embellishment, and skip over some really boring details that seem like they were just thrown in there. For the most part, you should be able to estimate your score (if you really want to), but for the most part, the rules are just there to give me a way of resolving tasks. Ideally, I want players who'll throw a character sheet at me, and not want to look at it again until they have to level up.---So that's the basic rule system... As far as game setting and content, definitely modern-day, probably no weird D&D races or anything (unless there's something who really really wants to play a flying gnoll)...We'll probably be starting at level 2, effectively... I don't want characters just yet, but I'm thinking somewhere around 48 point-buy (very super-hero appropriate)... Keep in mind that if your power is just "super strength" or something, that can be increased as part of your class (+2/level enhancement to Strength sounds about right, considering what we're talking about.) However, you'll be asked to submit the superpower class progression before the character itself...As far as game pattern goes, I've got in mind brief storylines rather than full adventures, for the most part. You should progress in power relatively quickly: Levelling up will occur between adventures, during down-time.With this in mind, I should also mention that I really like the idea of a whole "superhero universe"... Where characters overlap from one comic series to another, and so forth. Because of this, I think I'd like to try switching around games quite a bit: After a storyline is completed with one set of characters, another game is played with another set (although there may be some player overlap), and as more characters get established you can sort of mix and match for each little plot. Further, if anyone else wants to get in on DMing that sort of thing, I'd be all for it.I think that covers most of the bases. If you want a taste of the starting plot, it's simple at this point: You're a group of people with extraordinary powers who have banded together into a group. You fight crime.</blockquote>

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